“Lankan teens understand their tasks” – Coach Naveed Nawaz
The long process of intensive training for Sri Lanka Under-19 cricket team will come to an end in almost two months with the ICC Under-19 World Cup to be played in Dubai.
The Lankan teenagers, who have had their ups and downs at this age group internationally, will have an opportunity ahead of this big event which begins on Valentine’s Day 2014, to test their skill levels at the ACC Under-19 Asia Cup which kicked off yesterday in Dubai and a bilateral Youth ODI tour involving hosts Sri Lanka and Australia.
But has Sri Lanka Cricket’s so-called high priority project of grooming youngsters to the next level and making winning a habit, worked out effectively as planned?
According to Naveed Nawaz, the head coach of the Sri Lanka Under-19 squad, he and his experienced coaching staff, with the assistance of the national selectors, have guided the youngsters to what they hope will become the champions of tomorrow.
Sri Lanka Under-19s were engaged in their final training session at the NCC, before leaving for Abu Dhabi for the ACC Under-19 Asia Cup which is in progress at present with the participation of eight teams. - Pix by Amila Gamage
“There are two things that we look at, at this level. The important aspect would be, for players to filter into the system and then find their way into the bigger teams. The second of course is winning tournaments, this is very important to development. Development does not happen if we are not successful,” Nawaz told the Sunday Times days before leaving for Dubai.
But the youngsters of the Sri Lanka Under-19 side haven’t had international opportunities since August when they last met India in a bilateral Youth Test and Youth ODI tour in Sri Lanka. The Youth Test series ended in a draw after two games but Sri Lanka clinched the five-match Youth ODI series 3-2 to gain much needed momentum ahead of the important competitions to come. Nawaz contemplates that looking from two angles; the Indian Under-19 tour to Sri Lanka was an important stage for his team.
“I think the Indian tour was vital because they maintain a high standard at that level and they are a tough side to beat. More importantly the players understood the standard of cricket played at Under-19 level. At the same time it was a good opportunity for us to understand what brand of cricket we play and what to expect from the boys, especially at a World Cup event, without going blindfolded. The boys fared well and it was a good assessment for the selectors as well. We achieved what we wanted from the Indian tour and we gave the players the exposure they needed the most, before going into a big tournament. The objectives have been achieved ahead,” Nawaz, firmly said.
After working for so many years as coach Nawaz has finally understood that exposure and grooming alone has not helped them achieve much, in a country full of natural talent. But at least has their primary objective of feeding talent to the next level been achieved.
“If you look at the last couple of years, especially at the players going through, gradually they have reached the top. There are about two or three layers before the national team, and in the Development and Sri Lanka ‘A’ levels. There has been progress where many juniors have come through the Under-19 system. But it takes time for a youngster to go into the main team, because the national team has a set of well established players. It’s not easy to replace them immediately but it’s happening gradually. It takes a good five to six years for a youngster, going through this system to reach the top level. At the moment I can be happy with the progress,” explained Nawaz, whose objective will be solely about winning in the coming few weeks and months.
Though they haven’t got any opportunity of playing at international level, the Sri Lanka Under-19s have been a busy unit training, taking part at practice games or separately turning out for Premier Clubs in the local tournaments.
This has brought confidence among the youngsters who will serve the ACC Asia Cup competition as a prelude to the ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup. They will meet teams like Afghanistan, Malaysia and Bangladesh before getting a glimpse of strong contenders to the World Cup title, Pakistan and defending champions India in the next round. With a mixture of options in the squad, ranging from pure batsmen to all-rounders, fast bowlers to spinners. Sri Lanka will be eyeing a plum in Dubai, setting the tone and sounding a warning to the potential contenders of the February competition.
Sri Lanka, led by wicketkeeper/batsman Kusal Mendis, will definitely focus to reach the semi-final stage of the ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup. Their hope will be to win at least two games from Group ‘D’ where top teams such as England, New Zealand and the UAE are slotted.
“Our first challenge would be to win two games from the group stage and reach the knockouts. In the next round we will have to play a team from Group ‘A’, and we are expecting India or Pakistan to come from that group. We are preparing ourselves for that challenge. It’s going to be a tough tide overall. Taking it positively, we just have to get a game through and set the pace in the tournament. Kusal Mendis is a brilliant player and he is fast growing as a skipper. We have two tours before the World Cup and he should know his team well, he should know his players well, he should know who can do what, that’s the most important thing for a captain. He is getting to know the team and as a unit the team has played eight Youth ODIs so far and by the time we play the World Cup we would have played about 14 games. That will give him a good back-up. He reads the game pretty well. There have been mistakes but that’s usual at this age level. That’s why we are here, to help them improve and become good skippers.”
“We are going to be very positive. We know our strengths and weaknesses and we also know pretty well how the Under-19 age group works. When it comes to a tournament, especially at the knockout stage you cannot have a bad game and get kicked out. It’s important that luck favours us as well. At the same time, the players must understand they need to play as a unit, raise the bar and minimize the mistakes on their way to the final. I’m very confident and I have the trust on my players that they will deliver,” Nawaz, with a positive note said.
Sri Lanka squad: Kusal Mendis (Capt), Sadeera Samarawickrama, Hashan Dumindu, Minod Bhanuka, Kavindu Kulasekara, Priymal Perera, Thilakshana Sumanasiri, Sahan Arachige, Roshan Anuruddha, Binura Fernando, Anuk Fernando, Chamika Karunaratne, Ramesh Mendis, Lakshan Jayasinghe, A.K. Tyronne, Charitha Rajapakse, Saveen Nanayakkara, Janith Liyanage, Hashan Ramanayake, Irshad Umar, Sanjika Ridma, Raveen Sayer, Tharindu Hasantha, Sithara Gimhana, Kaveen Bandara, Devin Pathmanathan, Keshan Wijeratne, Harsha Rajapakse, Hashan Vimarshana, Madawa Nimesh.